Pictures at a Revolution by Mark Harris

In Pictures at a Revolution: Five Movies and the Birth of the New Hollywood, Mark Harris examines a tumultuous yet pivotal moment in American film: the 1967 Best Picture nominees and how they changed the motion picture landscape.

Guess Who's Coming to Dinner and In the Heat of the Night (both starring Sidney Poitier) dealt with race relations, a very hot topic in 1967, yet still stood protected inside the relatively safe walls of the Hollywood studio system. The Graduate and Bonnie and Clyde pushed the envelope, challenging the existing views on morality, authority, sexuality and violence. But how in the world did a big-budget musical flop like Dr. Doolittle get nominated?

Pictures is more than a page-turning battle of old-school vs. New Wave filmmaking, it's a look at how our world was changing, the filmmakers who recognized it, those who didn't, and those who tried to ignore it.

It's also a great book for anyone interested in film history or simply how a film is put together. Ever wonder exactly what a film editor does? Speaking of Dede Allen, the editor for Bonnie and Clyde, Harris states,

Allen knew just how long she could hold a shot of Beatty to reveal the insecurity beneath Clyde's preening; she seemed to grasp instinctively that sudden cuts to Dunaway in motion would underscore the jagged, jumpy spirit of Bonnie Parker and that slow shots of Michael J. Pollard's C.W. Moss would mimic his two-steps-behind mental processes. And Allen cut Bonnie and Clyde with an eye and ear for the accelerating pace of the story, making the building of its panicky momentum her priority.

Harris covers every aspect of the five films from pre-production all the way to Oscar night, but the actors' stories are the most telling. We follow Sidney Poitier's struggles to become the most important African-American actor of his time, only to find himself caught in a different struggle which offered no easy answers. We also follow the unknown Dustin Hoffman and his self-doubt all the way through the filming of The Graduate until a woman comes up to him after the film's premiere to tell him "Your life from now on will never be the same." A fascinating book, highly recommended for film lovers.